6 Car Odors You Should Tell Your Idaho Falls Mechanic
If you experience these weird smells in your car, you should bring your vehicle to our professional Idaho Falls mechanics as soon as possible.
Sweet
Antifreeze is the mostly likely culprit here, as it has a sweet and syrupy odor.
If you notice this coming from your car, there’s likely something wrong with your cooling system that’s causing antifreeze to leak out.
While it may be difficult to find the source, our mechanics in Idaho Falls find it pretty fast. We’ve seen coolant leaking from some pretty obvious places, as well as some not-so obvious places – a corroded heat exchanger (usually located behind the dashboard), for instance.
Antifreeze can also enter the cabin in the form of steam, producing a sweet, syrupy smell while also fogging up your windshield. We can find out what’s causing this issue and fix it.
Sulfuric (Rotten Eggs Smell)
If you smell sulfur, it may be an indicator that your catalytic converter has gone bad – possibly overheated from the emissions system or engine.
Electrical (Burnt Toast)
This could be the result of overheating components or short circuits in the electrical system somewhere in your vehicle.
This is a bad thing to be smelling, as burning smells typically indicate fires or potential fires.
Our professional mechanics can diagnose and fix the problem before any more damage occurs.
Rubber
You most likely have a problem with a belt if you’re smelling rubber. Either a belt has slipped or its getting chewed to bits by a pulley or some other moving part.
Musty
If you notice a musty smell coming from the vents, you probably have mold in the AC system.
This is common in older cars, as the AC evaporator naturally collects a lot of moisture.
This moisture can be dried out by running the – fan without the AC going – can eventually dry out the evaporator.
If it works, the smell will go away. However, if it doesn’t go away or keeps recurring frequently, our C&S Auto Repair mechanics can find and fix problems causing the issue – a clog in the drain tube, for instance.
Gas
While it’s of course normal to smell gas sometimes when starting a cold engine (due to incomplete combustion), you don’t want to be smelling it after the engine warms up. This could be the result of a loose gas cap or there could be a leak or clog in the evaporative emissions control system (which contains and recycles fuel vapors).
A worse scenario would be gas leaking out of the tank or some other part of the fuel system (the fuel line, or example).
If You Need Auto Repair In Idaho Falls, We Have You Covered
Bring your vehicle in if you’re noticing any of the above smells persisting as you drive. Ignoring the problem will likely just make it worse, thus complicating the repairs.
Our mechanics can diagnose the problem and fix it. Later, we can explain what caused it and how you can prevent tit from happening in the future.
Just fill out the form below and we’ll get back with you soon!